Hey Kids! Zena the ZooKeeper here to talk about what you can do for wildlife conservation! With Earth Day coming up, what better time is there? I’m sure you already do things to help wildlife all year round; like picking up litter around your school or local park, so animals don’t get sick trying to eat it. Or not bothering wildlife like baby birds in their momma’s nest, and always recycling to stop wasting things, and to reduce the amount of trash we make.

Those things are great to do, and today I’m going to tell you about some things you can do that maybe you haven’t even thought of yet. Part of helping wildlife is being a compassionate consumer. That means buying products that don’t hurt animals or wildlife. Like avoiding food made with unsustainable Palm oil. Did you know that people sometimes tear down the rainforest to build Palm oil plantations, where they plant and grow thousands of palm trees? This is happening right now with the tropical forests of Borneo and Sumatra in Southeast Asia, where the rainforest is home to orangutans, tigers, sun bears and millions of other species of wildlife. Once a rainforest is destroyed in order to plant palm trees, its habitat is ruined and these animals’ very existence is threatened!

But there is good news. There are companies that plant palm trees in a way that doesn’t ruin the rainforest and destroy habitat. These companies grow and sell sustainable Palm oil that doesn’t result in the loss of important habitat. Learn more about how to shop smart and buy products that use only sustainable Palm oil on our website. You can also download a poster for kids about Palm oil and how it is related to helping elephants.

Another important thing you can do to help animals is to never release pets into the wild. Sometimes people don’t understand how much care and work a certain kind of pet may need, and when they find they can’t take care of it, they just leave it outdoors somewhere. That’s really sad. Because the pet is not native to the new habitat, it usually dies or starts killing other animals or eats plants or destroys nesting sites which can really hurt the environment.

An example of this involves the Western Pond Turtle (WPT). Some people decided they didn’t want their pet turtles anymore and released them into the wild, where they were a non-native species and preyed on the WPT and its food sources. To help conserve the WPT, Oakland Zoo has a head-starting program to help rebuild the WPT population. Learn all about it here.

So, be sure you research online and find out all about the kind of pet you want before committing to it. And when choosing the right pet for you, always consider getting a rescued animal and please don’t choose a primate or other exotic pet.

And of course, educate others about conservation! If everyone does their part, then we can all be conservation heroes and change the world for all wildlife and humans alike!

Hey Kids! Zena the Zookeeper here. Want to spend an evening at the Zoo without your parents? Well here’s your chance because we have a brand-new program we’d love for you to come to. It’s actually called “Parent’s Night Out” but don’t let the name fool you – it’s going to be blast for you, too. “Parent’s Night Out” lets your parents free to have an evening to themselves, I don’t know, doing whatever they like to do! The good news is, it means YOU get to come to the zoo for all sorts of fun at the same time!

Your parents will drop you off at the zoo in the early evening, and the fun begins! Our awesome education staff will greet you, and then take you and your newly-made friends to dinner – here at the zoo of course. Then, with the Zoo closed to the public, you get a super special nighttime private tour to see some of the nocturnal animals here. You might think the Zoo is a quiet place at night, but that’s not the case at all. Our spotted hyenas, lions and great-horned owls can be heard whooping, roaring and hooting off-and-on from sundown to sunup. At night in our Bug House, New Guinea walking sticks, Madagascar hissing cockroaches giant African millipedes skitter in the dark, looking for food. And then, there are my favorites: our beautiful bats, called Island and Malayan Flying Foxes. We also have some nocturnal frogs and geckos.

After the tour, we’ll head back to our auditorium to meet an animal up close! We’ll play some games and end the night with a movie you’re sure to love. Your parent(s) will pick you up after your fun-filled and exciting night and you can tell them all about the cool new adventures you had at the Zoo! Well, that’s it for now. Hope to see you there, on February 14th. Mark your calendars and make your reservation today!

Hello fellow conservation heroes, Zena the Zookeeper here. The summer excitement just keeps on rolling here at Oakland Zoo! This month, we are celebrating the arrival of two totally beautiful new warthogs. Yes, you heard right – bea-u-ti-ful wartrhogs! I could just watch these two lovely ladies for hours on end! We got them from two zoos in the southern United States, the Atlanta (Georgia) Zoo and the Jacksonville (Florida) Zoo. I hope Simon, our resident male warthog, thinks they are as beautiful as I do. If Simon agrees with me, then maybe we’ll be lucky enough to have some baby piglets join the sounder (sounder means a small group of warthogs).

We zookeepers are pretty proud of our little three-warthog sounder, and of how well the three of them are all getting along. Sometimes it can take many weeks for female warthogs to learn to get along, but our ladies had not problems at all adjusting to their new home or to Simon, or each other. Hmmm… I wonder if it was all the fresh grasses, fruit, and enrichment items we put in their enclosure

everyday.

Just look at the three of them playing together with their ball in this picture! They’re getting along like three peas – I mean pigs – in a pod!

And here’s a little fascinating fact for you – warthogs really do have warts! The warts are on their heads, where they also have not one but TWO sets of tusks.

Warthogs are also powerful diggers, using their disc-like snout with their legs to dig for roots and tubers. They often lower themselves closer to the ground by bending their wrists (like Simon is doing in this picture).

Looks pretty awkward to me, but don’t worry, it doesn’t hurt. They have special thick, calloused pads of skin to protect them when they’re bending down like that. And just like all species of pigs, warthogs love to roll around in the mud when the weather gets too hot for them.

So see? These creatures are sweet and loveable and oh so fun to watch – just bea-u-ti-ful. I’m sure you’ll agree with me when you come visit them for yourselves. See you at the Zoo!

Herbivores (plant eaters) have a sweet tooth. This allows the keepers to insert medications in their meals such as hiding pills in Fig Newtons.

Food is donated or purchased, from different vendors such as “U.S. Foods,” “Concord Feed,” “North Bay Meat,” and other vendors. For some of the animals, keepers use branches and leaves found on Zoo grounds.

Do you want to feed our animals? You can at our upcoming Feast for the Beasts event – bring in fruits and vegetables and watch as our elephants and other animals enjoy your treats. Find out more here.

Hey kids! Zena the Zookeeper here. Welcome to my cool new blog! Now you can read about my awesome zookeeping adventures at Oakland Zoo online.

You know what I love best about being a zookeeper? No, it’s NOT all the poop I have to shovel. What I love best is taking care of the sun bears. They’re so fun to watch, especially when they’re moving around their exhibit, searching and sniffing, climbing and clawing to find their food.

In case you didn’t already know, our bears are omnivorous (om-NIV-er-us). That means they eat a variety of food—meat as well as veggies, just like you do (okay, maybe with the exception of the meal worms!) And here at Oakland Zoo, we like to give them as much variety as possible. Here’s some of the fun food treats that the bears get every day:

SWEET MIX: made up of popcorn, dates, peanuts, raisins, coconut and Fruit Loops (the only cereal they like.)

FRUIT & VEGETABLES: like grapes, pineapple, melon and yams to make sure the bears have a well-balanced diet, which is as important for animals as it is for kids.

HOMEMADE RICE CAKES: cooked and mixed with fun flavors such as almond, coconut or maple syrup

PEANUT BUTTER: mixed with other treats, or big dabs of it on tree trunks, or leftover jars from home for them to lick clean with their long tongues.

But I don’t just toss this stuff in a bowl on the kitchen floor like you do with your pets at home. I hide it inside all kinds of fun containers that I put around the exhibit for the bears to find and explore with their tongues and claws, such as:

PLASTIC DRINK BOTTLES with grapes or raisins inside

HARD PLASTIC PLUMBING PIPES with holes drilled in them for getting at the treats

HOLLOW BAMBOO STALKS stuffed with small treats

PINE CONES smeared with sticky treats like peanut butter or honey

HOLLOW PLASTIC PET TOYS filled with treats and frozen into popsicles

HARD PLASTIC BOOMER BALLS I smear peanut butter or jam on the outside for them to lick off

I bet your meals at home aren’t this much fun. But your mom probably has enough work to do already, don’t you think? Luckily, I’ve got a lot of helpers here at the Zoo.

ZENA’S QUICK QUESTION: How many sun bears do we have at Oakland Zoo and what are their names?

The next time you come to the Zoo, be sure to check out the bear exhibit and you’ll find out the answer. Also, if you want to check in on the sun bears from home, did you know you can watch Oakland Zoo’s Sun Bear Cam? Here’s a link to it: http://www.oaklandzoo.org/Sun_Bear_Cam.php

You’ll also see how much fun it is to be an Oakland Zoo sun bear. Well, that’s all for now. This is Zena the Zookeeper saying “See you next time!